Epilogue (To The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson)
by wordsandpages
Summary: Ten years after the book leaves off, this story follows the characters of The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson.
1. Chapter 1

Ten years had passed since Annika's place in the professors' house had been firmly restored. There had been a war – one rarely manages to live one's life without there being a war somewhere – and Vienna had been shaken. Badly. But Vienna did as it had always done: picked itself back up, dusted itself of and got on with it. The Opera House put on shows; the street musician played their music; the patisseries baked cakes and pastries and the Danube flowed undisturbed through the heart of the city.

But there had been changes. In the square where the professors' house stood in the middle of its row, the goldfish still swam in the fountain of the equestrian statue and the obnoxious hoot of the Eggharts' motor could still be heard, but those who had lived in the square long enough to call it home knew the difference. The two eldest Bodek boys had been called to serve in the army and the elder had come back with one leg. The younger did not come back at all. The lady who had always sold Annika the newspaper had passed away and the shop was now looked after the daughter. Loremarie Egghart had moved away to serve as a lady in waiting for the cousin of a duchess somewhere in France.

And in the house of the professors, there had been a few changes indeed. Professor Julius had too passed. He had seen his beloved rise up from the photograph by the window and she had told him to come; so he had. His absence could be felt at the university where a new professor taught geology, but without the enthusiasm of his predecessor for the origins of the volcanic rock. It could be felt upstairs where his room stood empty. It could be felt in the dining room where now only two places were set. But Professor Julius had been a sensible man and his family and friends knew that moping around the house and crying would be silly and would have ashamed him so they did neither.

Below stairs, there had been a few changes as well. Ellie and Sigrid, though hey hast tried to put it off for as long as possible, had had to retire. Ellie's feet had always troubled her but now her hands too shook. Her joints ached and she found she could no longer climb to the top of the hill at Pettlesdorf to air out her soul. When she had voiced her plans to retire to Sigrid, her faithful friend and companion had decided at once to accompany Ellie wherever she went. There had been no question as to where they would go: there was a small cottage waiting for them in Merano, one with a weathervane shaped like a crowing cock on the roof.

As to who would replace them had also been clear for there was really no one else who could do their job but Annika. Annika herself had been away in England, attending a cookery school. It had not been necessary, of course, for her to attend since the training she had received at the hands of her adopted mother and aunt could not be matched even by the finest schools. However, the professors, as scholars, had felt it essential that Annika receive a university education and so she had been sent to England to relearn the art of making perfect pastry dough. It was a good school and Annika loved it. She loved the green lawns and the hills in the distance; she loved the lake in the university's park; she loved the friendly British girls in her class and the charming young men who tipped their hats to her when she passed. In her time there, she learned how to give the English dishes with their abundance of potatoes a _flavour_. She learned the best way to say "No, thank you," to the marriage proposals of the gentlemanly scholars who fell head over heels in love with her (and there were a few of those). And she learned to miss home in a way that did not hurt, was not hopeless, but was _good_.

However, when she received news in her third and final year that Ellie and Sigrid planned to retire, she was ready and willing to leave at once. She was concerned about the final exams or leaving her new found friends but she knew where she belonged and that was at home. Nevertheless, no matter how eager she was to return home, the professors and Ellie were firm when they said she must stay on to finish her studies.

_ Ellie has found a perfectly nice girl from her village to help in the kitchen until you arrive, _Professor Emil had written in his letter. _You are to stay on and finish the year before coming home._

At the end of her academic year, Annika came first in her class. She stayed only as long as necessary to collect her diploma graciously, say goodbye to her friends and pack her belongings before heading out to catch the next train home, straight to Vienna.


	2. Chapter 2

As always, Annika's return home was something of an occasion. Word travelled fast around the square and soon, almost everyone knew she was coming home. The lady who had sold her flowers to present to Professor Julius's beloved had missed her dearly and sent up a bouquet of summer blooms. Mitzi, who still worked for the Eggharts if only for the pay, baked not one but _two_ chocolate cakes. Stefan was contacted at his engineering college and he took leave at once. A telegram was sent to Pauline who now lived, of all places, in the open countryside and she replied immediately to say she would be in Vienna on the day that Annika arrived.

And, of course, Zed. Zed had not left the Imperial Spanish Riding School. The committee had made a fuss about allowing Rocco to be the Emperor's Horse due to him not being a pure Lipizzaner, but once they had seen the horse in action, they had had to agree that Rocco looked very promising indeed. Zed had, since then, been involved in training, grooming and caring for his beloved horse. It was clear to everyone around them that the boy and horse shared something special, an understanding lay between them which made them one. If Zed had ever doubted that Rocco was his horse, he didn't do so now. It was as if Zed's wildest dreams had come true, and it was better still that he was allowed to stay in Vienna. In Vienna where he could go and see Ellie and Sigrid at the weekends, where he could take a stroll in the Prater and listen to the street musicians play their waltzes (which were not Romany music but were beautiful all the same)...and where Annika returned each summer from England.

Since the day ten years ago on the bridge when he had promised Annika he would not marry the gypsy girl, he had also known that he would not marry anyone but her. There had been women, of course, who had flirted with him and asked him to dance. They had been beautiful women, too, but none of them had been Annika. If they asked him to dance, he did, but he left them with a chaste kiss on the cheek at the end of the night. Soon, the women of Vienna learned it was useless to chase this beautiful boy and slunk away to seek English earls or American businessmen who would be more than willing to sweep them off their feet. And Zed had waited. Now, his waiting was done.


	3. Chapter 3

It was Pauline who offered to pick Annika up from the station. She had surprised everyone by falling in love with a farm boy who was neither bookish nor brave but perfectly ordinary. It had been on a trip to Pettlesdorf by herself right after her eighteenth birthday. The trip she had taken a few years ago to save her best friend had given her courage. She had read and reread the cutting Annika, Zed and Stefan had given her which told her own story and she decided that she would quite like to make the trip again. She had been working in her grandfather's bookshop but had also got a job at the library where she was actually paid and she used her savings to buy herself a train ticket to Pettlesdorf.

On the train, she had been sat in the same compartment as a young man and his sister. Although the girl had been fast asleep, the man, who was called Marcus, had been wide awake and had looked quite agitated. Pauline thought that he did not look like a boy who should look so nervous: he was tall and muscular with curly brown hair and a healthy complexion. He was not missing a limb nor was he covered in boils and so he had no right to look so scared. Pauline had asked him what the matter was with him and he had replied, "This is my first time on a train."

He had explained that he lived and worked on a farm and that he had never left it to travel so far before. He lived quite far away but was visiting Pettlesdorf with his sister to visit their ailing great-aunt who lived in the village.

"Well, that's no reason to feel so scared," Pauline had said, and she had told him the story of the boy who had saved a cow from drowning by holding it up by the horns and the man who had left his deathbed to save a kitten.

When she had finished, Marcus had smiled and said, "Fraulein, you have made me brave."

And that had been that. Pauline had gone with him and his sister, Hanna, to visit the ailing great-aunt and he had written to her every week since they parted ways. Pauline had written back. After a year of writing, they had decided to meet again in Pettlesdorf. This time, Marcus would travel alone but he would have a ring in his pocket and some important words for Pauline.

When he asked her to marry him, Pauline, who was a sensible girl, had said that she could not possibly work on the farm. "I don't know the first thing about milking a cow! There aren't that many in the city, you know. I suppose I could read about it beforehand..."

But Marcus had assured her that milking a cow would not be necessary for there was an elderly gentleman in the village who had been a friend of Marcus's grandfather and who bought eggs from the farm who ran a bookshop. "He has been looking to hire someone trustworthy to look after it now that he is getting on a bit," Marcus had explained.

"But the village is so far away from the farm," Pauline had said, "I could ride a bicycle."

"A bicycle?" Marcus had exclaimed, "No! Pauline, we would buy a motor car, of course."

So it was settled.

The country fields and fresh air had done Pauline good. She would still, at times, feel a little nervous travelling to new places on her own but the motor she and Marcus had bought with their savings and money received at their wedding made her feel safe. It was almost like a suit of armour; it was impossible _not_ to feel brave in it.

Now, Pauline was waiting at the train station. Although Annika had always known that deep down, her friend was truly brave, it surprised her to see the sophisticated young woman who was waiting for her on the platform. The girls embraced and Pauline spared no time in telling her all the wonderful things which awaited her in Vienna.

"Ellie has made an absolute feast! And Sigrid has got the house even cleaner than usual, if that is even possible! Mitzi's baked two great big chocolate cakes and Stefan has come down from his school. The Bodeks will be there, of course. And Zed, Zed has said he'll be there!"

While Pauline began to chat about her life on the farm and running what was practically her own bookshop, Annika thought of home in a way she had forbidden herself from doing when she was at school. Now that she was so close, she dared dream of the delicious food Ellie must have prepared and the way the whole house must smell of vanilla and cinnamon. She thought about the familiar white shine of the kitchen table and the sound of harp music coming from upstairs. She thought about the noise of the Bodek boys filling the kitchens and how Stefan must have changed while he had been away. And she let herself think of Zed. The last time she had seen him, he had become so handsome. She supposed he always had been but you always saw a new kind of beauty in a person once you've been away from them for a little while. It makes you remember why you love them. She understood that she mustn't be upset if he had found a girl while she was away and had fallen in love. She knew she would have to accept that; it was only right.

When they arrived at the professors' house, Annika insisted on using the back door; it didn't feel right to use the front door. Inside the kitchen, everyone was waiting. The Bodeks were there, taking up half the room at the kitchen table. Stefan stood out especially: he had grown so tall, and handsome too, in the time that he had been away. Even the professors had come down and were seated side by side, looking happy that Annika had returned home at last. Sigrid was there, leaning against the stove and beaming when she saw Annika. And, of course, Ellie. Ellie was not only there but she was already hugging Annika before she had even properly stepped into the kitchen.

"My darling," she said, "Welcome back."

Pauline had not been exaggerating when she said Ellie had prepared a feast. She had cooked all of Annika's favourite foods: quails eggs in aspic, stew with beef dumplings, vanilla kipferland even Norrland Nussel, amongst plates and plates of other food. After Annika had been properly hugged and squeezed and asked about her school in England, they sat down to eat. They sat at the table, on upturned crates and stools in the warmth of the kitchen. It was a room which was filled with laughter and love. It was home.

Only one person was missing. Where was Zed?


	4. Chapter 4

It was not until the last of the plates had been cleared away, and Frau Bodek had taken her boys home, and the professors had retired upstairs that Annika and her friends sat down to talk. Ellie brewed another pot of coffee as Annika, Pauline and Stefan congregated around the table.

Pauline went first and explained in detail about the countryside. "It is so _open_," she said, "But in a good way. It is a beautiful kind of open, not at all scary." She told them about Marcus and his farm. She told them about the old man and his bookshop which he was going to hand over to her when he passed away for he had no relatives. She told them she was _happy_.

Then it was Stefan's turn. "You wouldn't believe the things we learn," he said, he voice full of admiration and awe, "The technology they have, it's amazing. I think I could do it, you know. I think I could become a proper engineer." The girls told him of course he could, they had always known it. He spoke about a girl he had met, a smart and pretty girl whom he expected to marry someday. It was clear to Annika that his affection for this girl was true, but she noted the oddly wistful way Stefan looked at Pauline.

Just as Stefan finished speaking, the kitchen door creaked open slowly.

"Zed!"

It was Zed. He was still in his smart work uniform and he looked out of breath, as if he had been running. He looked apologetically at Ellie and said, "Sorry I missed the meal. I had to work a little extra; I couldn't avoid it."

But Ellie had no time for apologies. She was already sitting him down with some coffee and warming up the leftover stew on the stove.

The truth was not that Zed had been unable to avoid working a little extra. He had chosen to do it. Although at first he had been excited to hear Annika would be coming home, this morning he had woken feeling oddly nervous. He had intended to court her as was appropriate before asking her hand in marriage. But what if she had changed? Not become nasty or snobbish, of course, Annika wouldn't do that. But she had been away for so long. What if she had fallen in love with a man at the school? What if she had announced by now that some Englishman was waiting for her in London and she would be going away as soon as possible?

He had not looked at her right away, had not dared to in case all of his worries were true but now he had no choice. He looked...and he _saw_. She had not changed at all. She was as he remembered her with her golden hair and her pretty face. The way she looked at him so expectantly, as if she had been waiting for him, chased his doubts away. Even if there was some Englishman, he would fight for her hand. He would not let her get away so easily.

"Annika, I am glad you are home," he said.


	5. Chapter 5

A week later, Ellie and Sigrid left. They packed up years of memories in their trunks, leaving holes in the house. The whole street came to see them off. Someone brought some ham for them to take on the journey. The flower lady put together a huge bouquet of her best flowers. The daughter who had taken over the paper shop brought them magazines to read on the train. Mitzi, who had cried and cried the night before, put on a brave face for her beloved friends and came to embrace them. Stefan, who loved Ellie and Sigrid like his own family, took another day off from his studies. And Pauline brought down a special book she had made herself about Merano's bravest residents.

Annika, however, felt strangely _happy_. As she made breakfast that morning, she was happy. When she helped Ellie to make sure she had packed everything, she felt happy. The happiness did not go away when it came time for her adopted mother and aunt to leave. It was a bittersweet happiness because it came with the knowledge that Ellie and Sigrid were going to the beautiful house with a rose garden in the sky. They would finally be able to rest and grow old together. It meant being away from them, but it was not a final, awful sort of goodbye. It was a goodbye filled with promises. Although she couldn't help but shed a few tears, she was happy that they were going.

Later that day, she met Zed on the bridge where he had first held her hand ten years ago. As she waited for him, she couldn't believe that it had been so long. She remembered the strange joy she had felt when he'd told her he wouldn't leave and marry the gypsy girl, Rosina. Now, thinking about it, she felt the same strange happiness. Even though it was foolish, she let herself believe that there was a chance – perhaps a hope – that Zed might hold her hand again.

"What are you thinking?" It was Zed. He had come up behind her and she hadn't even noticed. Looking at him now, she could see how handsome he was. But it wasn't just that. He was kind and helpful and _good_. It was very difficult to not fall in love with him.

"I was thinking," Annika said, "About the time we stood here last, ten years ago, and you told me you wouldn't marry Rosina."

Zed grinned. "I did say that and I haven't married Rosina. I haven't married anyone, or even made plans to do so."

"Really?"

He looked at her hand resting on the railing as it had done so many years ago and thought about how life had a strange way of going on and changing while keeping the most important things the same. He put his hand over hers and said, "Really."

And when they kissed, Annika was truly home.


End file.
